


Blind Reading

by bboiseux



Series: Critical Role Campaign 2 [18]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Cold Reading, Gen, Tarot, c02e016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 12:45:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14873996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bboiseux/pseuds/bboiseux
Summary: Nott wants a reading.  Molly delivers. (Ficlet)Takes place during Episode 16 of the Second Campaign.Reading Time:Abt 4 mins.





	Blind Reading

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anonymous Tumblr User](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Anonymous+Tumblr+User).



> I literally drew these cards at random and I share Molly's surprise at the ease of the reading.

Nott slammed her flask on the table and scrambled up across from Mollymauk.

“Alright, you big lug,” she said, her words slurring with every syllable, “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Molly smiled and sipped at his drink.  “And what would you like to see, exactly?  I’ve got a lot to offer.”

“No, no, no, no.”  Nott wobbled to the right and grabbed frantically at the table.  When she was stable again, she pointed her finger at Molly.  “No.  No.  See, you’re being all sexy and alluring.  Well, you may be surprised.” She hiccupped.  “. . . but I am not interested.  Nope.”

Molly’s smile was only getting wider.  “Well, if I can’t offer you a taste of—” He gestured at his body. “—this, then what can I do for you?”

“When you first came in . . .  came in . . . came in.”  Nott’s gaze wandered to a random point behind Molly.  “You did a thing with the cardies for Jester.”

“Ah, a reading.”

Yeahyeahyeah.”  Nott nodded wildly.  “That.  Can you do that for me?”

Molly tried to cover his smile.  “I don’t know, Nott.  This is serious business.”  He pulled out the deck of cards and put it on the table between them.  “Are you ready to accept the truths of the cards?”

Nott’s eyes had gone wide, completely transfixed by the deck.  “Is it magic?”

“It’s a kind of magic.”  Molly pulled a card off the deck and held it between them, back facing Nott.  Nott followed it with her eyes, a look of awe on her face.  Molly placed it back on top and tapped it twice.  “If the Raven Queen sees all the threads of fate, this is a tool she’s given us mere mortals to help see our own finite threads.  Do you really want to know what fate has in store with you?”

“Yes.”

Nott’s gaze was intense and, for a moment, Molly considered saying no.  Something about the look was too interested, too fixated.  But then he shrugged it off and dealt the top three cards off the deck, facedown.  With a flourish, he started to flip the first card, but then he paused, the card on the verge of being revealed.  Nott leaned forward, her stool tilting at a dangerous angle.

“I’m going to give you a small reading.  This card—” And he turned it over.  “—is the problem you are facing.”  The card showed an ornate picture of a woman, eyes gouged out, crossing two swords in front of her, as if fighting off an attack. “These other two are the solution and the outcome.”  Molly looked down.  “Hm.”

“What does it mean!?”  Nott was standing on her stool now, head almost parallel to the table, staring down at the layout.

“There is something you must face that you refuse to face.  An obstacle to overcome that you refuse to overcome.”  Molly considered the top of Nott’s hooded head.  “The Two of Swords is the card of indecision.  What that indecision is may only make sense to you.  But whatever it is, the trouble comes from the indecision, not the thing itself.”

Nott slammed back in her seat, drinking deeply from her flask.  “Doesn’t ring a bell.  Can’t say there’s anything I need to face.”

Molly flipped the second card.  “The Eight of Wands.  You must act immediately.”  Molly rubbed his  head.  “I have to say these cards are being incredibly specific.”

Nott just sat, suckling at her flask, not saying a word.

Molly slowly turned over the last card.  It depicted a woman in ornate gowns, weighed down with jewelry, riding a golden chariot.  She stared backwards out of the card.  “Well, Nott, I have some good news for you.  If you act immediately, you will be successful.”

He sat back and gave a broad gesture to the cards.  “There.  I can honestly say that’s the easiest reading I’ve ever given.”

Nott slid slowly off the stool, not a word, eyeing Molly carefully as she backed towards the stairs.  Then she turned and ran.

In her room, she fumbled through her things, making piles of jewels and shoe soles, counting out her coins.  When she was done, she was surrounded by piles of things and stuff.  She sighed and started lumping it into one gigantic pile.

Tomorrow, she would have to send a package.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking fic requests! Find the details [at this post on my tumblr](https://bboiseux.tumblr.com/post/173750594440/taking-critical-role-fic-requests-now).
> 
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